EDITOR ’ S NOTE
Greetings to the readers of Intelligent CIO Africa . The year ahead promises its share of opportunities and challenges for African enterprises . Digital transformation including cloud platforms , customer experience , digital sales has neatly embedded itself in African enterprises of all sizes . The link between investment in technology and business competitiveness is now obvious to start-up entrepreneurs and seasoned CEOs alike .
However , there are varying degrees of success in aligning business and technology trajectories , with harsh on-ground realities and success in the market place .
Macro-economic challenges like failing energy production and distribution , continuous currency devaluation , inflationary pressures , lack of investment in national infrastructures of all sorts , weak public-private partnerships , lagging STEM and higher education , are now taking their toll on day to day African business and operations . And there appears to be no respite from these inhibitors in the year ahead as well .
On the positive side , African enterprises can invest and gain successful returns by building business outsourcing centres at scale . The type of services has to be carefully selected based on pricing and skills availability . IT help desk and IT support services are a growing opportunity and can be managed out of the African continent if sufficient technology training is imparted to the workforce .
Fintech startups need to raise the bar on themselves . Commodity service differentiation no longer attracts investors and many African startups are failing to reach stage-C funding . Aligning with established financial players and playing a supportive role in innovation can boost their funding and learning curves , something which African fintech lack today .
Funding for Africa ’ s energy transition to low carbon , green and recyclable opportunities cannot always come from the West and donor institutions . The global challenge of energy transition while promising to moving forward in 2024 , is becoming increasingly formidable for everyone the more head-on it is challenged .
All countries and corporates are being challenged to abandon high emission fuel ecosystems and begin significant migrations to low carbon systems . To make rapid and significant progress , Africa will need to look inward into its vast and expansive natural resources and adopt a leadership role towards its own self-sufficient future through innovative commercial partnerships with global majors .
All these opportunities and challenges will remain centre stage in our future 2024 editions .
We thank our readers for their support in 2023 and look forward to your engagement in 2024 . Best wishes for the new year ahead .
Arun Shankar Managing Editor arun @ lynchpinmedia . com
www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA 7